This is a review of the book 'The Baby Group' by Rowan Coleman. Bought for me by my Mum in view of my current pregnancy, she thought I'd enjoy it.

The book is about racy lingerie-company owner Natalie who winds up pregnant after a whirlwind weekend-long romance. She quickly finds herself as a single mother (but well off) without any friends or family for support. She puts herself out of her comfort zone and joins some groups to try and meet other mothers and is pleasantly surprised by the support group she finds in her local neighbourhood.

Whilst I found this a pleasant read and the storyline was pretty good, I didn't feel particularly challenged by the content and quickly guessed the outcome of the book.

I would look out for further books by this author but wouldn't want to read them back to back. As a new mum-to-be I suppose I had a vested interest in reading this book and you can learn ways of doing certain things too so it wasn't too bad for me.

What I liked best about the book was the gritty nature of Natalie's character, although she's a bit like she is on heat, fancying her electrician and having to compete with her mum for his affection!

The worst bit for me was the character of Natalie's mum who came across as pretty bad and not a good role model but it did add an extra dimension to the book so she served a useful purpose.

Weirdly, I found Natalie's dedication to Jamaican ginger cake a bit odd (it's not that good is it?) but she quickly makes it a tradition of the group to eat cake when they meet. I hope I don't get into that habit when I'm a mum!

Themes in the book include: family, friendship, infidelity and relationship issues, money, property, renovation, romance, travel and work. So all in all a good mix of subjects.

The other members of the group are all different types and characters so it does make quite colourful reading. I would recommend this book to other parents and mums to be but probably not if children aren't an interest in your life, you'd probably find all the talk of nappies and prams quite tedious!